Meat Processing

If I’m not using suregel I include CP in all my products. In the previous life we added sodium phosphate to 99.9 of all the products sausages, hams, hot dogs, breast, and more. The only thing that didn’t have it was no brand name whole turkeys. The brand name whole birds were pumped too.

@sarabelieves38 yes but hopefully you stuffed it right after mixing or it will be super stiff and possibly damage your stuffer

Sounds like the 8x12’s are the way to go. Thank you for those who responded.

Old post, but to clear up some misconceptions I’ll attempt to set the record straight for future use and discussions. Morton sugar cure and tenderquick are essentially the same product exception being that sugar cure contains a small amount of dextrose to feed the beneficial bacteria in long cures and a small packet of spices better known as California ham cure on Waltonsinc.com. The reason that Morton doesn’t recommend tenderquick in bacon anymore is that the high heat of frying underutilized cure #2 nitrates causes nitrosamines to be produced and that is not very good for colon health. For long cures, non-cooked meats, and boiled meat tenderquick works well though it is extremely salty. Unfortunately you cannot lower the saltiness because then you don’t get enough cure. For fried meats use only cure#1 and leave cure#2/ tenderquick for long cures and recipes such as Gepockelte. I agree with Austin that using the Excalibur cures may be a better option for most because the salt content of tenderquick is extremely high (intentionally) and has very specific uses that most people will never need. Commercially, nitrate is no longer allowed for use in curing of smoked and cooked meats, non-smoked and cooked meats, or sausages (US FDA 1999). However, nitrate is still allowed in small amounts in the making of dry cured uncooked products. Home food preservers should avoid the direct use of this chemical and opt for the mixtures described above. https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_cure.html

@m-saboe I do my summer sausage like that and have absolutely no problems contrary to popular opinion, just as twilliams said it is temp activated.

@marzig20 looks and sounds amazing!! waiting to hear how it came out when you fry it. The extra pickling spice in the jars kinda scares me. Lol. I don’t like a lot of it as it leaves a bad aftertaste for me.

@jesser said in Tough casings: @twilliams now that’s something new, never heard of p ri c king the casings before smoking only to release air pockets. Any background on how this helps? Thanks for the. Info The summer sausage casings, Mahogany Pre-Stuck Fibrous Casing are already struck. Helps the casings adhere to the meat.

@bobfrapples I would suggest 70/30 at the least and up to 50/50 when using venison. For seasoning Hatch Green Chili Flavored Brat will provide some heat and includes garlic in its ingredients.

I know this is and old post, but I have done this before and for educational purposes I want to answer the question. If by opaque you mean white that is what cooked salt cured pork looks like. If you want red/pink you must cure pork with cure # 1/2. The only reason Prosciutto is red/pink is because it is raw and not cooked, there is a reason pork is called the other white meat. If you did add cure # 1/2 and it didn’t cook as pink then then for what ever reason your cure didn’t penetrate the meat.

@wdaly thanks for the update, good info to know

A binder of some sort such as eggs, milk powder, carrot fiber binds meat well along with some mixing or as cdavis said sure gel if you have some.

@deepwoodsbutcher good info on the flakes.

@craigrice wish I was on your Christmas list

I personally don’t care for the vinegar smell and taste when frying and eating it.

@processhead I enjoy me some lamb t-bones, lamb lollipops and then there is a little cafe in a really small town. They raise their own lambs for the sliders they make in the cafe. Boy howdy they are really good, you can tell it’s not beef but you can’t tell oh thats lamb.

@cdavis I used the h summer and jalapeño summer.

I much prefer cold smoke. Allows for longer smoking times and to me produces a better texture.

@nemo you can use either carrot fiber in smoked meat products, but it is typically used in fresh. Where sure gel is typically used in cured products. Carrot fiber has a higher water holding capacity which will affect the time of your cook of cured products and may make it have a spongey texture. Sure gel holds some moisture but it also helps with protein extraction when making cured. If you have the opportunity try some Small batches and see what you like

i run it thru the buffalo chopper with ice. Before the chopper, I just double ground it and it all tastes the same. I just prefer the pallet feel of the emulsified product. Its more like Troyers trail to me.

@chef I miss those French fries. When I got back to the US after my first deployment as a young Marine over 35 years ago, my sister and her family offered to take me out to lunch and asked what I wanted. I said McDonald’s double quarter ponder with cheese and a large French frie. Life was simpler back then. I could actually eat at McDonald’s then, not so much now.